PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY
Above: An external view of the Hartlebury MMES unit.
Left: Avensys’s 22,000 ft2 Managed
Medical Equipment Storage (MMES) unit in Hartlebury.
had expected when ground was broken in March 2019. While no one could have predicted the pandemic’s devastating and sustained impact, it has brought about an increased demand for private healthcare. HMT Sancta Maria Hospital has also worked with NHS Wales and Swansea Bay University Health Board throughout the pandemic, and is continuing a dialogue to offer support and to relieve some of the pressure that the NHS is currently experiencing.” Hospital director, Geoff Bailey, said the
entire Sancta Maria team was ‘very excited’ to make the move to the brand-new hospital, adding: “The new facility, with its wider corridors and more open spaces, will allow us to better manage the patient flow for the time being.” The building includes a range of ‘eco-friendly’ features – including 10 electric car charging spaces for staff and guests, a 150 m2
rooftop
solar photovoltaic array, and ultra-high performance, thermally efficient, timber composite windows.
EBME equipment supply A high priority for HMT early in the process was identifying and appointing a reliable, experienced supplier for the wide range of biomedical equipment the hospital would need. The chosen company would need to source and store equipment until it could be transported to site, and then install and commission the various devices – all at a competitive price – as well as subsequently maintaining and servicing them. It would also be tasked with removing, reconditioning, and then re- selling, some of the surplus equipment at the ‘old’ Uplands site once staff had moved out of the hospital to their new home. Avensys, the Kidderminster-based biomedical engineering specialist appointed to the contract, had the benefit of an established track record with HMT, having serviced and maintained a range of biomedical equipment at the ‘old’
56 Health Estate Journal March 2022
Sancta Maria Hospital site for nearly a decade. With the charity’s Estates, Clinical, and management teams confident in the company’s abilities and expertise, Avensys was thus among the specialist engineering businesses approached to equip the new hospital with a range of new EBME equipment and furniture once staff had determined what they required, and to remove and re-sell items no longer needed from the old site. Thereafter this equipment was fully reconditioned and sold to other hospitals, both in the UK and overseas. Resale manager, Francesca Stewart,
explains that while in the early days, the servicing, maintenance, and repair of hospital EBME equipment was very much Avensys’s sole focus, the reconditioning and re-sale of surplus EBME equipment, short-to-medium term equipment storage for healthcare providers, and procuring and selling new OEM EBME equipment
to healthcare facilities keen to use a ‘one-stop-shop’ supplier, are now all key activities for the business. Avensys has three buildings at its Kidderminster HQ – accommodating offices, workshops, storage space, and training facilities – and has considerably expanded there over the past 3-4 years. A new base for its Resale Division opened a few miles away in Hartlebury in summer 2021, reflecting the significant ongoing growth in the Division’s activity. Francesca Stewart now heads a team of six, compared with just two staff four years ago. The Avensys Resale Service offers medical providers equipment collection, patient data removal, and liability transfer in the same way that an auction house would, but – in contrast to an auction house, where equipment is ‘sold as seen’ – Avensys sells the kit to its new owner with at least a three-month warranty and function guarantee.
Racking in the MMES warehouse ensures that everything is safe, tidy, and stored at the correct temperature.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68
